President Obama had the perfect opportunity for the Bulworth moment he reportedly craves--of
unleashing his true thoughts, as Warren Beatty did playing a senator in
the 1998 movie--when a reporter asked him how he felt about being
compared to Richard Nixon. You could tell Obama wanted to say something
cutting, but he settled for the understated approach: "You can read the
history and draw your own conclusions." He managed to make his point
(i.e., you'd be nuts to draw that comparison) and there will be no "Have
you no shame!" or "I am not a Nixon!" video clip for YouTube or the
evening news.

The exchange was emblematic of Obama's highly intentional and
disciplined performance at a press conference with Turkish Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan. It was the second time in a week that a foreign
leader stood by as Obama addressed domestic scandals and controversies
(the first was Monday's press conference with British Prime Minister
David Cameron). The odd juxtaposition worked for Obama, particularly on
Thursday when he talked about expanding trade with Turkey, helping
Turkey cope with Syrian refugees, and most of all, working with Turkey
to keep putting pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"We both agree that Assad needs to go. He needs to transfer power to a
transitional body. That is the only way that we're going to resolve
this crisis," Obama said, sounding resolute and engaged--in other words,
not the man pundits have been panning of late as a passive bystander to
the history he is supposed to be shaping.

It's going to take more than a few days and a couple of forced departures at
the Internal Revenue Service for Obama to demonstrate he's an engaged
chief executive, of course, and months for the GOP to work its way
through investigations on multiple fronts. But if Republicans were
counting on a chastened or humbled president, they would be wrong, in
the same way they would have been wrong to expect the muted,
nonresponsive Obama of the first presidential debate last year to make a
repeat performance at the second.

In fact, Obama used the joint press conference to open a new
political offensive on Benghazi. He challenged lawmakers--read:
Republicans--to put their money where their mouths are on Benghazi and
protect Americans at risk overseas. "I'm calling on Congress to work
with us to support and fully fund our budget request to improve the
security of our embassies around the world," he said. That tack was more
passive-aggressive than passive, setting up a way to blame Republicans
for a future tragedy if they don't approve more money for security.

The other striking aspect of Obama's press conference, as illustrated
by the Bulworth moment that came and went, was his care in answering
questions. He kept a balance as delicate as the one he described between
the public's right to know and his responsibility to keep spies and
soldiers safe.

He answered only for himself, for instance, when asked if he could
assure Americans that nobody in the White House knew about the IRS
unfairly targeting tea-party groups before his counsel found out April
22. "I promise you this--that the minute I found out about it, then my
main focus is making sure we get the thing fixed," he said. As for the
rest, he referred reporters to White House press secretary Jay Carney.
Thus, no statements from Obama on the order of "nobody at the White
House knew" (which could be proved wrong later) or "I don't know" (which
would feed the disengagement narrative).

Obama was similarly cautious when
asked if he would oppose a special counsel to look into the IRS mess. He
said a criminal probe at the Justice Department along with the many
investigations launched by congressional committees would be sufficient
"to figure out exactly what happened, who was involved, what went
wrong." He never used the words "special counsel" or "special
prosecutor." So, no clip of Obama saying he didn't want one (followed no
doubt by questions like "what's he got to hide?").

As for whether the Justice Department
overreached in getting hold of Associated Press reporters' phone
records, Obama said the public's right to know is important, but not
more important than his responsibility to protect Americans. "I've still
got 60,000-plus troops in Afghanistan, and I've still got a whole bunch
of intelligence officers around the world who are in risky situations,
in outposts that, in some cases, are as dangerous as the outpost in
Benghazi," he said.

Justice was reportedly investigating a
leak about a foiled terror plot, one which Attorney General Eric Holder
said had put people's lives in danger. And who is going to argue with
the need to keep Americans safe?

There was another question Obama answered in a clear-as-water,
made-for-media sound bite, the question of whether he still had full
confidence in Holder. "I have complete confidence in Eric Holder," he
said. He added that Holder is doing an "outstanding" job and "I expect
he will continue to do so."

In light of that endorsement, Holder's statements this week to
Republican lawmakers--accusing them of treating him with disrespect and
calling the behavior of Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., "shameful"--come off
less like a man on the way out than one who is secure in his
relationship with the president. And Obama's unconditional support,
regardless of its expiration date, is another sign of a president who is
hardly in retreat.

Jill Lawrence is a national correspondent at National Journal. She was previously a columnist at Politics Daily, national political correspondent at USA Today and national political writer at the Associated Press.